MOMA

From the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.

Modern art sucks.

I honestly expected to spend a good three, four or five hours in here, but the truth is, I doubt I could spend one. This is in sharp contrast to the umpty hours I could spend at the Met.

The truth is, NYC just doesn’t hold the kind of fascination for me that I thought it would, that it once did. Maybe it’s just that the city is too overwhelming to take in in the span of just a few hours. Maybe doing it alone just doesn’t work.

Maybe my shoes hurt like hell. Who knows.

The bottom line is that the creative spark I was looking for isn’t going to alight in a single afternoon of NYC immersion. MOMA is one of those places that has now become the sole domain of its regulars. It’s full of people who seem to be either tourists or the kind of folk who meet their friends for dinner and chat about art. “Yes, I went to the Munch exhibit today, and they were so good about showcasing his work. The guest lecturer was okay, but then again, the work speaks for itself, don’t you think so?”

Fuckers.

I suppose oughtn’t to be harsh with them. I too, am a tourist.

But look, hey, it’s not the same. It’s not! There is a difference between a tourist who comes here to view the art and appreciate it, and a tourist who’s doing the tourism equivalent of racking up a body count: “Yes, I saw Klimpt, Cezanne, Matisse, Kandinsky, Seurat and Rousseau. Dang, I missed Van Gogh. Minus ten points”

The truth is, I don’t think art can be properly appreciated in this atmosphere. When you hang a Kandinsky yards from a café, there is some loss of appeal. Throw in a throng of tourists jostling for the best spot in front of ever damn Cezanne piece, and you have a nightmare of kitsch meets snotty high art.

The admission fee is another thing that bugs me. $20. Twenty freakin’ dollars. WTF? I ain’t made of gold, beyotches. Museums ought to be free - they house the collective knowledge of human heritage and that heritage belongs to the world. I’m not talking about putting a Seurat on every street corner, but make it reasonable, for God’s sake. $5 is reasonable. $20 is overpriced for the paucity of quality here.

Perhaps there is something to be said for a throng of people flocking to the museum. Sure, I can see that. Art appreciation being brought to the masses. I’m all for that. But let’s also not flank the experience with the cheap commercialism that is so rampant here.